Kebaikan e-Wallet

Sekarang ni, sana-sini orang membicarakan mengenai e-wallet. This is just one of many types of cashless way to do business transaction. Before this we had internet banking, debit and also credit card. I remember when I was in UK 20 years back, one of the option for cashless besides debit and credit was using cheque book.

And by the way, we do had an option for cash back when using debit at large stores such as ASDA or Safeway. First time guna kemudahan ini ialah ketika baru sampai di Safeway, ketika itu saya baru beberapa hari menjejak kaki ke UK. Ikut seorang kawan yang nak tunjuk cara guna debit card. Before this, cari mesin ATM dan cucuk duit. 

Masa nak bayar kat cashier, dia tanya saya cash or card. Saya pun beri debit card saya dan dia tanya pula saya nak cash back ke tak. Masa tu jawab tak je sebab kita tak tau apa ke benda tu. But once dah tahu, always a cash back for me. Maknanya kita minta cashier bagi kita duit cash dan dia akan tambah dalam nilai pembelian debit card saya. Meaning that I do not need to use an ATM machine for withdrawing money.

First time having using cashless transaction memang mengujakan. Bear in mind it was 20 years back and di Malaysia masa tu pun masih tak meluas lagi penggunaan cashless ni. The only financial card that I have before going to UK was my ATM card. When I reached UK and opening a bank account with NatWest, I was given an ATM/Debit Card and a cheque book. NatWest even offered me a credit card which I did not took.

And in UK, I started using e-commerce. I purchased several audio CD's from the retailer websites and delivered to my accommodation. That was my first 'Shopee' or 'Lazada' experience. When I was in Malaysia, it took almost another 14 years to start making online purchases again.

So back to e-wallet, one of the benefit yang saya nampak is of course no need to bring a lot of cash money. Bila tak banyak cash, kurang risiko duit hilang atau duit kena samun. Then we have the luxury to pay something accurately, tak perlu nak tunggu dapat duit balance. Takde juga istilah peniaga tanya, 'Bang ada duit kecik tak, saya takde duit kecik la'.

Usually, banyak promosi e-wallet seperti cashback and also discounts from certain merchants. Seronok juga bila dapat cashback. Lately ni memang saya guna betul-betul offer e-wallet. The latest is buying the promotional menu from Burger King. 

Cuma lately ni orang risau pasal data peribadi kita di e-wallet. Funny thing is lotsa of other service provider pun require the same personal information from us such as our telco or ISP. And yet kita tak risau sebab kita bagi personal information tu pada manusia, e-wallet is being done through their apps. This shows that humans still trust humans more than machine.

For me, kalau nak bocor data tu, data di telco dah lama bocor. MyKAD kita pun di fotostat atau scan oleh pihak telco. Even tempat kerja saya simpan data peribadi dan salinan MyKad student-student. These e-wallet providers safeguard our data more than we safeguard our own data. But actually there is no harm in creating awareness so that these providers will be more alert and vigilante in safeguarding our data.

These shows that these e-wallet providers need to adhere to one of the most demanding request for a proper records management which is to safeguard the data/records. And I do have confidence that they will follow the rules as they have a set of rules and guidelines to follow. This goes to safeguarding the money inside the ewallet too.

Another weakness is hardware, software and connection failure. It is useless without all this. Saya pernah berhadapan dengan kedai yang tidak boleh melengkapkan pembelian ewallet saya kerana terminalnya berhadapan masalah connection time out. Saya juga ke kedai untuk membuat pembelian menggunakan ewallet namun gagal sebab saya lupa bawa smartphone yang ada apps ewallet saya. Ini payah bila ada dua atau tiga phone dan terbawa yang tiada apps ewallet. 

So rule of the thumb is in order to use technology, we must ensure that our devices are in a good working condition. Without it, we will go back to basic, using money. I think in 10 years time, physical money will be reduce to half and ATM machines will slowly disappear. This machine will be one of the latest casualties to this technology revolution.

Orang Asing dari Wings

Antara album lama zaman saya di IPTA yang dicari-cari. Dulu dengar guna kaset, kemudian beli CD. Saya masih ingat waktu ni saya agak curious sebab Wings kali ni adalah yang pertama tanpa Awie. Dah biasa sangat dengar suara Awie, bila dengar Mel, agak janggal. 

Tapi makin lama dengar, makin sedap pula. Lagu yang sudah pasti saya ulang-ulang ketika itu adalah 3 lagu pertama iaitu Ranjang Mawar, Lena Diulit Intan dan Semalam Yang Hangat. Masa zaman CD saya dah hujung-hujung nak grad IPTA, saya auto replay lagu Semalam Yang Hangat sampai tertidur. 

Semalam Yang Hangat merupakan antara lagu yang saya pernah bawa jamming, waktu tu jamm di Kompleks PKNS. Walaupun lintang pukang kami main waktu tu, tapi seronok dan kami rakam guna kaset dan perakam suara. Sekarang jamming rakam video terus samada guna gopro atau handphone.

Lama juga saya cari kembali CD ni, akhirnya jumpa di Aeon Big Subang Jaya, gerai satu auntie chinese ni. Kalau pergi sana, memang akan singgah ke gerai dia.

Basically, album Orang Asing ni sedikit lain dari album Wings yang lain. Ada satu dua lagu style dia macam album Bazooka Penaka. Lagu dalam Orang Asing tak seheavy lagu dalam album-album sebelumnya, tapi tetap menimbulkan mood tersendiri yang pada awalnya agak sukar diterima tapi bila dah lama-lama sedap pula.

Now after so many years, bila dengar balik album ni, rasa macam baring atas katil di rumah sewa sewaktu my degree days... 

2020 And The Wawasan

Melangkah ke tahun baru 2020, after 3 days into it baru saya berkesempatan untuk melakar coretan dalam blog ini. Di hujung-hujung tahun 2019, pelbagai perkara yang saya lalui. Antaranya kerja menguruskan peperiksaan akhir yang bermula pada Isnin 30 Disember 2019. But one of the most memorable incident yang berlaku a day before the first exam is a very tragic one. I just could not bring it inside this blog now as I have post some of it in my Facebook, but it will always remain in me. Sehingga saat ini ditulis saya masih belum 100% recover from the post trauma incident and both me and my wife are still occupied in the recovery process. I will put the tragic incident here when I am ready enough. But to cut it short, it does not directly happened to me or my wife, but to my next door neighbour.

Bila berbicara mengenai 2020, saya masih ingat pada tahun 1991 apabila ia dilancarkan oleh PM ketika itu iaitu Dr Mahathir. Ketika itu saya masih bersekolah. Apa yang saya gambarkan ketika itu ialah Malaysia on par with negara yang maju dengan pelbagai teknologi hebat. And I did a calculation on how old I would be at that time and will I be enjoying the 2020 to its maximum.

So now 3 days into 2020. Finally I had completed my PhD, officially. Saya masih ingat-ingat lupa apa yang saya gambarkan diri saya pada tahun 2020.

1. I visioned myself to be a working adult with a good job and salary. I am now a senior academician, something yang saya tak pernah terfikir oleh saya pada tahun 1991. Salary yang saya visioned myself in 1991 untuk dicapai pada 2020 berjaya digapai, but cukup-cukup cover expenses. Yang ini pun saya tak tercapai dek akal waktu tahun 1991. Cuma fikir gaji but not the expenses. 

2. Membayangkan ada rumah sendiri, own family dan sepasang anak, lelaki dan perempuan pada 2020. Surprisingly bab anak ni memang saya memiliki seorang boy and seorang girl. Rumah ada satu, actually dua tapi satu dah let off. Tak berapa pandai bab properties ni. 

3. Membayangkan ada kereta sendiri pada 2020. Tercapai, tambah lagi 2 motosikal. 

4. Membayangkan dah ada degree masa tahun 2020. Alhamdulillah, habis PhD.

5. Membayangkan dah naik Haji pada 2020. Belum terlaksana, tapi berjaya menunaikan umrah pada 2019.

6. Membayangkan KL ada monorel pada 2020. Bukan sahaja monorel, ada sekali LRT dan MRT. Selalu juga saya guna LRT dan MRT ni, monorel baru first time naik pada Disember 2019.

7. Membayangkan telefon rumah boleh dibawa kemana-mana pada 2020. Realiti sekarang hampir semua ada handphone, majoriti besarnya smartphone. You can ask the internet anytime anywhere. Mobile and internet penetration sangat tinggi.

Basically almost all the things yang saya visioned masa Wawasan 2020 dilancarkan pada 1991 dah tercapai except some thing yang saya tak terjangkau nak forecast pada waktu tu such as rising of the cost of living. Oh yes, masa tu saya tak sangka saya akan merokok, but now saya dah lama quit smoking. 

If you ask me whether Wawasan 2020 dah tercapai atau tak? I would say yang ia masih belum tercapai but not 100%. We have more highways compared to 1991. In KL we also had various expressway to ease traffic congestion, though road vehicles had rise as well, so we still have heavy traffic jams during rush hour. 

Another thing that I had not visioned in 1991 was that in 2020, physical money is slowly giving away to electronic payment such as TnG e Wallet, Maybank QR Pay, Boost, online shopping, Grab Food etc, ehailing and other such services. 

This may see a reduce number of ATM's. We had already see the closure of several branches of banks.